So one of the questions I had for her was how she tells people
they are going to die.

Dr. Brooks said she developed her own style of doing this in part
by watching a range of different styles during her residency
years.

One of the doctors she worked with, she says, was so dark and
direct about it that he often sounded as though he was going out
of his way to paint the worst-case scenario in the blackest
possible terms--even if the outlook wasn't that bleak.

Being overly sunny in the face of a bleak prognosis, of course,
is also problematic. And it's dishonest to people who often have
little time left and need to use that time as best they can.

Watching the first doctor, Dr. Brooks says, helped her get
comfortable delivering very bad news--albeit in a
less-apocalyptic package.

Each patient is different, Dr. Brooks says, so there's no
one-size-fits-all way of delivering the news. For some patients,
Dr. Brooks says, she employs a communication tactic called the
"sandwich" (It's often used in Little League, in addition to many
other situations).

In the "sandwich," you package the bad news with some good news.

For example:

"The good news is we were able to remove all of the cancer.
Unfortunately, the prognosis for people with your condition is
usually still fatal. But we have now bought you some time, and
they are always developing new treatments."

Miracles do occur, Dr. Brooks says, so you would never want to be
completely black and white. But you also wouldn't want to mislead
anyone about their chances.